Greggs hails resilient performance

Mar 10 2009 By nebusiness

BAKERY chain Greggs today said it was braced for "only marginally positive" sales growth over the year ahead, but put faith in its value proposition amid the recession.

The firm, which has more than 1,400 shops across the UK, said it had already shown resilience with a 4.4% rise in like-for-like sales in 2008.

Pre-tax profits dropped by 3.3% to £45.2m on an underlying basis in the year to December 27, although this was better than expected in the market.

Plunging consumer confidence has seen comparable sales growth slow from 5.1% in the first half to 3.9% in the final six months, while sales since the year-end have risen by 1%.

However, Greggs said the snow chaos last month significantly impacted sales in the 10 week period to March 7, with sales rising 2.9% excluding the two weeks of weather disruption.